Autumn 2012

Sustainable water management

Responsible and sustainable water management is very important to TenCate. Thanks to successive investments, use of the groundwater in Nijverdal has dropped by 500,000 m3 (a reduction of 30%) over the past five years. And with its own water purification installation, the degree of pollution of the process water has been cut by 70% in five years. TenCate reuses the groundwater in Nijverdal twice.

TenCate pumps up groundwater from the available sources on site for the production processes in Nijverdal. The groundwater pumped up is transported through a system of water pipes for the purpose of deferrization in the preliminary treatment installation of TenCate. In this way, the water can become first cooling water, then preheating water and finally process water. The process water is used by all the production locations of TenCate via its own system of water pipes.

The sewage treatment system of TenCate in Nijverdal-North (NL)

Since 2007 up to 50% of this quantity of water has been sustainably reused: first as cooling water at Ten Cate Thiolon bv and then as preheated process water at TenCate Protective Fabrics. This saves considerable amounts of energy. The used process water is pre-purified in the company’s own anaerobic wastewater purification installation. Finally the pre-purified process water is transported through a system of municipal pipes for approximately 100 metres as the crow flies to the sewage treatment system, where the last round of purification takes place. Afterwards it is released as surface water into the river De Regge.